They were like trees among shrubs -- three gargantuan Harlem Globetrotters standing waist deep in screaming schoolchildren, all of them holding out shoes and shirt sleeves for an autograph. The setting: An outdoor basketball court at Chatsworth's Sierra Canyon elementary school. The 'Trotters: "Clown Prince of Basketball" Geese Ausbie, "World's Fastest Dribbler" Curley Boo Johnson and Eugene "Edge" Edgerson, known as much for his Afro as his ball-handling skills.

Students visiting the Los Angeles Children's museum Tuesday received a lesson in art, basketball and success--all rolled into one. Two representatives of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, including the legendary Curly Neal, demonstrated ball-handling tricks to a group of kindergarten through 4th-graders. He then led the group in the creation of a mural. The students rolled basketballs in red and blue paint and then across a canvas.

It was the opening seconds of the second half of a basketball game at Michigan State in November when a panic, of sorts, swept through the sold-out Breslin Center. The Harlem Globetrotters, clown princes of basketball and international ambassadors of goodwill, had taken a 37-29 lead over the defending national champion Spartans. And while it was merely an exhibition, Michigan State's 28-game home-court winning streak was in jeopardy.

Sterling Forbes Jr. seems to be following in his father's footsteps and in the same kind of footwear, sneakers. The younger Forbes, who played at University High School, Santa Monica College and Southwest Texas State, is a member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, just as his father used to be. Sterling Sr. of Pomona, the former Jordan High School and Pepperdine University star whose National Basketball Assn.

Sherwin Durham spoke into the telephone with no certainty in his voice. "I'm in Charleston," he said cautiously, testing the sound of it. "Charleston, West Virginia, " he said with more conviction, and then he laughed at himself. Charleston is just another in the string of towns Durham rolls through, mostly for one-night stands during which he sees little more than the inside of an arena and his hotel room.

In a small room in the new, $1.1-million gymnasium at St. Margaret's High School, basketball coach Rick Bauer has set up shop. Inside, Bauer has a desk, a basketball rack, a cooler filled with soft drinks and just enough room left to accommodate two people. Carpeting was just installed, which made the office look a little less like an equipment room. Humble digs for a man who once traveled the globe to play basketball professionally. But there are benefits.

The Harlem Globetrotters and the late Fred Snowden are among the honorees being inducted into the Black Sports Hall of Fame at an Afro-American Museum ceremony Thursday. Curly Neal will retire his Globetrotter jersey and donate it to the Black Sports Hall of Fame. Neal and Snowden, the former executive director of the Food 4 Less Foundation, will be honored for their contributions to the community and basketball.

Former Gov. George Deukmejian does not need defending. His unblemished record of public service for 28 years speaks for itself. Now he is an attorney with an international law firm and he is happy practicing his profession and representing his clients. Perhaps the two writers of the carping letters (Jan. 10) who found so much to critize just don't like lawyers. ANGIE PAPADAKIS Rancho Palos Verdes

They're pro athletes who don't spit on refs, punch opposing team members or abuse fans; they're funny, as American as apple pie and a slam-dunk crowd-pleaser from Iceland to Zimbabwe. To the strains of "Sweet Georgia Brown," the red-white-and-blue-uniformed Harlem Globetrotters are in town this weekend with their newest entertainment spectacular.

Students visiting the Los Angeles Children's museum Tuesday received a lesson in art, basketball and success--all rolled into one. Two representatives of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, including the legendary Curly Neal, demonstrated ball-handling tricks to a group of kindergarten through 4th-graders. He then led the group in the creation of a mural. The students rolled basketballs in red and blue paint and then across a canvas.

The string of white lights snake through fog-shrouded cornfields, a traffic jam five farms long, heading toward a bright marquee in the middle of nowhere. Tri-County Middle-Senior High School 1-5 BB Winomac 1-9 BB Rossville 1-12 Harlem Globetrotters. Trucks and vans and solid blue Chevrolets, driven by careful men in baseball caps, filled with women wrapping their babies, edge into the lot. A wet kid with a flashlight takes their two bucks for parking.

Wun Versher could barely believe it. The Harlem Globetrotters had called. He had tried out. He had made the team. Now the former Dominguez High and Compton Community College standout was racing home to tell his family, thinking all the way that this was unbelievable. His family felt the same. "They didn't believe me," Versher said. "My grandparents were the worst. Not until I put a uniform in front of them, and even then I think they had doubts." No one is doubting Versher now.

What would you have to guess is the greatest basketball team of all time? The Bill Russell Celtics of the 1960s? Perhaps. The Chamberlain-Baylor-West Lakers of the '70s? Possible. Won 33 consecutive games. Or the Kareem-Magic-Jamaal Wilkes Lakers of the '80s? A case could be made. OK, but what of the Harlem Globetrotters men of all seasons? An annual record of 250-0. An all-time record of 17,515 or so victories vs. 331 losses? A winning streak once of 2,495 games? Is that any good?

The Harlem Globetrotters and the late Fred Snowden are among the honorees being inducted into the Black Sports Hall of Fame at an Afro-American Museum ceremony Thursday. Curly Neal will retire his Globetrotter jersey and donate it to the Black Sports Hall of Fame. Neal and Snowden, the former executive director of the Food 4 Less Foundation, will be honored for their contributions to the community and basketball.